Moving on up

If you live in the South you hear people sometime call somebody a Jehu and they pretty much mean somebody who’s kind of scatter-brained and runs around real fast and doesn’t get much accomplished.

II Kings 9: 19-20 reports, “Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me.
[20] And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.”

In I Kings 19 we learn that Elijah, before his ministry was over, had promised Jehu that God would make him king in Israel. “Elijah anoints Jehu to be king and you see him execute the wrath of God on those who despise the Lord and those who disobey God’s word,” explains Jordan. “Jehu is going to be the instrument of vengeance in the Lord’s hands against those who have persecuted his prophets and rebelled against him. He goes out and kills all these Baal worshippers. He uses all kinds of means and executes judgment and Ahab dies and Jezebel is killed and so forth and the vengeance of God is executed.

“His zeal for the Lord was zeal in killing people. He’s a bloody guy. So they made him ride in his chariot and when he came to Samaria he slew all that remaineth.

“He feigns like he’s going to worship Baal, using that to gather all the Baalites together and then destroys him. That’s what verse 28 is about.

“Jehu had a taste for blood and his heart wasn’t really in it. I mean, God gave him permission to go out and whip up on some people and he went out and he’s getting it done but notice chapter 10: 28-31:

[28] Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
[29] Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan.
[30] And the LORD said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.
[31] But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD God of Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin.

Jordan explains, “Though he was used of the Lord and did some things that God wanted him to do and God gave him a promise there about his five generations being on the throne, as a whole Jehu was negative. He had a great opportunity but he went after Baal. You see a lot of that through (this part of the Old Testament).

“You think, ‘How can somebody see what they saw and go out and destroy these people, like they did, and then still worship Baal?!’ Well, it tells you one thing—the reason he was destroying them wasn’t because he hated their religion. It’s just that he liked to shed blood. And it wasn’t that he was so dedicated to God; it’s just that he saw an opportunity to get the upper hand over somebody.”

*****

Jordan says, “It’s wonderful to know that you’re going to have a body that can move from one place to the other. The Lord Jesus Christ is in the tomb and He walks right through the wall and gets out. Doesn’t need anybody to open the door. The disciples are all in the Upper Room, locked in with the doors nailed shut and the windows pried down and they’re trying to figure out what to do next because everybody’s mad at them and their Lord’s been killed and their hearts are full of fear and they’re having a meeting and they look up and see a guy at the end of the table who wasn’t there a minute ago.

“They checked the door and counted the numbers and said, ‘How’d he get in? He just walked through the wall, that’s how he got in. did you ever want to just be here on the earth and say, ‘I think I’m gonna move; beam me up, Scotty,’ and be heaven? You know, seven hundred and fifty billion light years across the universe.

“And then say, ‘I think I’ll go back down now,' and beam yourself back down and do all of that in less than two hours’ time? Do the business up there and come back? You think, ‘That wouldn’t be too bad. Let me try this body out a little bit.’

“You look at the exciting things God’s going to do with your glorified body and the things you’re going to be able to do and say, ‘Man, that’s all wonderful!’ But there’s something more than that. There’s even going to be something better than knowing you’re going to be able to eat anything you want to and never have to worry about getting fat . . . ”